Velvet Birthdays
by Cosmic Humor
Summary: For Elizabeth's Birthday, Elizabeth is going to get Margaret drunk. Margaret is less than excited about the prospect.


Margaret knew this was a bad idea. She hated going out to the mortal realm. She had only done it once before and that was for... someone special. By and large, she didn't like the material world. It was too uncertain, too cluttered, too full of... people.

Yes, that was the worst part of the material plane.

People. They were always talking and thinking and doing terrible things. Worse yet, they often thought _wrong _things. People who thought the sun revolved around the earth and that the planet was only six thousand years old and that Nickelback was a good band. How did people deal with such levels of wrongness floating around them all the time? No, people were best avoided. Few people were like him, who listened and spoke only when they were sure. Few were creatures of certainties and comforting smiles like he was...

Everyone else was just so much more _wrong._

But it was Elizabeth's birthday so Margaret had agreed to join her whatever depraved escapade she had decided to engage in for the night.

"Tonight we will be engaging the human ritual known as 'getting wasted'." Elizabeth chirped in that gratingly cheerful voice. "It is a celebratory event in which humans consume a mental suppressant to enhance enjoyment."

"It sounds terrible." Margaret responded curtly. "Why would someone poison themselves like that?"

"That, dear sister," Elizabeth said with a sly smile. "Is what you are going to find out tonight."

Margaret tried to hide her scowl. She would much rather have been back in her room with her books. She had plenty of data on Personae to categorize and several books she had been intending to get to. She had been so busy helping Igor, especially since _someone _ had decided to abstain with her duties. She hadn't even been able to get to the newest Dresden Files book yet...

Elizabeth seemed to have caught Margaret's foul reaction because she gave a heavy sigh. "Come now, Margaret, you've never tried this before." she said. "It'll be an adventure!"

Margaret responded with a heavy sigh of her own. "Fine, fine." she said. "Take me to your posterior-gyrating den of iniquity."

Elizabeth, sprouted a huge smile and jumped onto Margaret, wrapping her arms around her. Margaret's frown deepened, not particularly pleased by Elizabeth's sudden outburst of affection. "You will not regret this!"

Somehow, Margaret doubted that.

.-

"What do you mean you no longer sell alcohol at this establishment?" an enraged Elizabeth cried.

Margaret wasn't particularly mystified as to what the bartender meant, nor did she particularly mind. She was not fond of this form of pulses and thrumming that were masquerading as music. Elizabeth had informed her that it was called 'dubstep'. Margaret was quickly getting a headache from it, one that she imagined would not improved by the consumption of brain-inhibiting drinks.

"Listen, there was an incident awhile back." the bartender said. "I don't really know the details, but it made us realize a lot of underage kids could come in and out really easy. After that it was either up security or become a dry bar."

"I had promised my sisters she would experience the glorious sensation of inebriation!" Elizabeth shouted. Normally, Margaret would be worried about attracting attention, but she was more worried about the pulsing 'music' making her head explode. "How am I to do that if you no longer serve _margariiittaaas!" _the last word was said with heavy emphasis put on the Spanish accent.

"Listen, lady. I dunno what to tell you." he said. "We just don't have any."

"You, good sir!" Elizabeth said indignantly. "Have just lost a patronizer!"

"...what?" said the confused bartender.

Elizabeth wore a confused face for a while. "an insulter? …a bully?..." after a few moments, she allowed the indignation to return to her face. "Regardless, you have lost one! Come, Margaret, we will find another bar! A better bar!"

Margaret wasn't sure of that, but she was happy to be out of the noise.

.-

They had gone from Tatsumi Port Island to the other side of the world. They were in New York City now, and while she was not fond of the island, going to a louder, busier city was quite a bit of a backslide to her.

Elizabeth, however, was having the time of her life.

"I have never attempted to hail a cab before!" Elizabeth said. "It is said that a firm will is required to excel at this activity! I am sure that I will be able to quite easily triumph."

Margaret felt naked without a book in hand, and with one should would have be able at least only half pay attention to what Elizabeth was doing. Without her literature, the lethal elevator attendant could not be ignored.

"EYYYYY!" she cried, attempting her best Brooklyn accent. "TAXIIII!"

Margaret wished there was some way to separate herself from Elizabeth but the fact that they were both wearing matching colors and -being sisters- looked incredibly similar practically welded them together. Fortunately, few people were looking at them, but there were a few mortifying onlookers. Fortunately, Elizabeth's gambit had worked and a taxi was actually pulling up. Margaret shuffled in quickly, not particularly wanting to have anyone else looking at her.

"Where to, ladies?" asked the cab driver. He wore thick sunglasses that couldn't have been conducive to driving this late as well as large, long dreadlocks. His accent bespoke of a fondness for Bob Marley and the entire cab smelled of 'medicinal' herbs. Hopefully the drive would at least be a bit more calming than the outside city. Less calming was the fact that Elizabeth was inhaling the smell quite vigorously.

"Take us to the finest nightclub you know!" cried Elizabeth cheerfully. Many people called Elizabeth's attitude infectious. Margaret enjoyed its comparison to a virus.

"Sure ting, mah sisters." he said. He began driving and there went Margaret's hopes of a calm drive. She was still thankful for the herbal remedy because there was no way she would want to be in this man's car when he didn't have a suppressant. "Dose some funky clothes you girls got on. New fashion?"

"I suppose you could say our fashions are a bit outside of time." Elizabeth said with a knowing smirk.

"Ah yes, I understand girlie..." the man said, as he made a turn that was a centimeter away from a ten-car pile up. "You godda do yer own ting, no?"

"Exactly!" Elizabeth agreed pleasantly. "Wouldn't you say our unique styles are wonderful at establishing our personalities, sister?"

Margaret's whitening fingers were wrapped around the car door's latch in case she had to make a desperate dive out of the car. "Wh-what?"

"I was simply asking if you felt our respective outfits reflected who we are as people." Elizabeth responded.

Margaret paused. She had never considered that. She simply dressed as she felt made her comfortable. In that respect, it seemed that Elizabeth was right. Her clothing really did seem to reflect her as a person. And Elizabeth's more daring, yet simpler outfit seem to reflect her bubbly -almost invasive- nature as well.

"Hurm, I guess you're- DRIVER WATCH OUT!" and she instinctively dived out of the car, taking the door with her.

The car went flying straight into a car that had run a red light. Margaret could take a good deal of damage without anything serious happening to her. She could probably take the entire crash without any serious damage. She was an attendant of the Velvet Room, after all.

Still, she -really- didn't like pain.

She rolled out of the car and instinctively began to hover to avoid hitting the wall she was rolling towards. Nanoseconds later she heard the crash of the car.

"Elizabeth?" she cried, but she didn't see her. She panicked. Oh god, where was she? What if she hadn't gotten out? What would she tell Igor if she had gotten hurt? Oh god, where was her sister?

"Elizabeth!" she shouted again, looking around desperately. "Sister! Where are you?"

After a moment that lasted far too long. "Why Maggie, I didn't know you cared."

Margaret's expression turned from panicked to sour as she turned up to look at her sister, floating ten feet higher than her. In her hands, she had the stoned cabbie -who seemed to have barely managed to register what was going on- and another person who must have been the driver of the other car.

"Get. Down. Here." Margaret growled. Elizabeth complied and drifted down like a feather hitting the ground as she let go of the two drivers. Margaret realized she was still floating and dropped down to Elizabeth's eye-level. Under other circumstances, Margaret might have noticed the people around her staring, but right now she just wanted to scream at her sister face to face.

"What the hell, Elizabeth!" she said. "Not only did you endanger with your little escapade, but when it looks like you might be hurt, _you decide to taunt me?_"

"I am very sorry, dear sister." Elizabeth said solemnly.

"No you're not." Margaret responded, her yell turned grimly quiet.

Elizabeth kept the serious expression for a few moments before finally bursting out into laughter. "N-no..." she said between gasps. "You should have seen your face! Sister? Sister! It was like in one of those Japanese horror movies!"

"All that means, sister..." Margaret said. "is that you have less understanding of familial affection than a bunch of middle-aged shut-in filmmakers."

"In any case, it's a good thing the crash happened." Elizabeth said, looking at the sign of the nearby building with loud neon signs indicating its nightclub status. The usual bouncer was gone, perhaps due to chaos going in. Elizabeth cheerfully stuffed a good deal of money that Margaret could tell was far more than he deserved, even if you had discounted the bodily harm he would have incurred to normal human beings. "It looks like we're here!"

"Rapture..." Margaret said icily

.-

Did every infernal nightclub have the same damned pulsing almost-music soundtrack?

Elizabeth had order two _margarriiiiittttas _-as she had put it- and the entire drink was far far too sweet for her. She was still sipping on her first drink while Elizabeth had already knocked back her third.

"Let's go out onto the dance floor!" Elizabeth cried, lightly tugging on Margaret's sleeve. "It's quite an exciting experience!"

"I'm not done with my drink." Margaret said noncommittally.

Elizabeth gave a small pout to Margaret's refusal. "Come now, you have to get some energy! The dance floor can be just as intoxicating as the drinks!"

"Elizabeth, there are some things I cannot be asked to do without laying nuclear meltdown on an entire building." Margaret said in a voice she felt was perfectly patient. "Care to guess whether dancing is one of them?"

Elizabeth blew out a frustrated sigh. "You know, I really think that of all the people I've met the wrong person received the title 'killjoy'." and she pranced off to enjoy herself in the middle while Margaret hailed over a waiter.

"Barkeep," she said, practically showing the _margariiiiitttta _into his hands. "Get me something bitter."

"What do you have in mind?" asked the waiter, clearly a bit off-put.

"Jeez, I dunno." said Margaret. "You work here don't you? Surprise me."

.-

Margaret's surprise turned out to be something called Guinness. It tasted like tar to her, but after four or five of them the music -a friendly man whose affections had been rebuked had informed her that it was called dubstep- had begun to dull. After Margaret had drank three, she was feeling queasy, a feeling that was not improved when Elizabeth jumped-hugged her from behind.

"Yeeek!" Margaret cried, flinging her hands back and throwing a good deal of beer right in Elizabeth's face. Margaret turned around to simply see that Elizabeth had her usual smile frozen in place, visible now through a translucent screen of blackish-brown liquid. "Umm, sorry..."

"No need to worry, sister dearest." said Elizabeth. "It's good to see you're getting into the spirit."

"I didn't get into the spirit, so much as the spirit was pushed into me by a very pushy someone." Margaret replied.

"You're so somber these days." Elizabeth said. "You weren't like that a year ago."

Margaret's brow furrowed as she thought about exactly what -and who- was different a year ago. "I had my work to occupy me." she lied.

"As I've heard Igor and Theodore tell it..." Elizabeth said, her voice taking that pleased-as-punch-sugar-and-honey tone. "there was something completely different occupying you."

Margaret's scowl deepened. "It was a professional interest." Margaret said, suddenly worrying that her nose was going to become as long as Igor's. "He was very good at fusion."

"Ahhh, so you _were _interested in fusion then, weren't you?" her voice becoming sly. "I heard you even left the Velvet room to see him off."

"He was leaving!" Margaret said defensively. "I- I-..." Margaret paused because she knew that continuing would be admitting... admitting what?

"Go on..." Elizabeth said, clearly pleased with her. "I am awaiting for you to finish your sentence."

Margaret sighed, admitting defeat. "I didn't know if I'd see him again and I wanted to make sure I said goodbye."

Elizabeth's smirk faded slowly. "He was someone very special to you."

Margaret nodded and took another sip of what was left of the Guinness. "He was... unique. He spoke little and observed much. That was what give him the ability to switch Personae. He was clever and understood how our world worked quickly. There was just... something different about. He was unique."

"And that's why you felt the way you did about him?" Elizabeth asked. "Did you love him?"

Margaret scoffed. "What does that word even mean?" she asked. "He was something unique, someone I will never meet a duplicate of... I wouldn't sully how I felt about him with a word of commonplace as love."

"It was really that unique?" asked Elizabeth. "Once... in one of our lifetimes?"

Margaret's brow furrowed. "Where is this going?"

"I am simply wondering..." she said., her face pensive looking. "...if he was so unique why have you not pursued him once again?"

Margaret stared at Elizabeth for a good few seconds before letting out a frustrated breath. "It it not that simple."

"I must be incredibly dim then, sister, for I do not see why not." she said.

"He's mortal for one."

"Meaning every second you do not speak with him is a second of happiness you are deny yourself."

"He's got plenty of women who are also interested in him."

"Of course." Elizabeth said. "After all, why would Narukami-san be interested in the mature, beautiful, obscenely rich and powerful and in such a relationship would be very comfortable in. Simply unthinkable."

Margaret's brow furrowed. Who gave Elizabeth and her incessantly cheerful demeanor allowance to be sarcastic?

"Attraction doesn't work that way." Margaret said. "It's far more ephemeral than simply categorizing positive and negative qualities."

"Ah I see!" Elizabeth said, with an expression not dissimilar to the one Tesla had when imagining the Death Ray. "So perhaps when the two of you had finally begun to engage in the human ritual called 'kissing' Narukami-san was simply so horrified and disgusted by the prospect!"

"That was not how it-" Margaret caught herself in mid-protest. "How did you even find out about that?"

"Igor was incredibly concerned about the mental state of his current attendant." Elizabeth said somberly. "He was afraid that if something untoward happened, you would have trouble functioning in your duties."

"Typical." Margaret grumbled. "You go off gallivanting and he doesn't bat an eye. I step outside for a few minutes and I am living an Orwellian nightmare."

"He was simply trying to make sure his attendant was treated properly." Elizabeth said pleasantly.

"This is your job." Margaret reminded her. "Do I need to point out I've been working double time to cover your decision to go off partying."

Elizabeth's expression darkened. "I've not simply been exploring humans recreations while gone, sister..." The uncharacteristically somber response gave Margaret pause before Elizabeth's smile quickly returned. "Besides, in my travels I did meet your... intriguing Narukami-san."

"You met Yu-san?" Margaret regretted the words the instant they were out of her mouth. She tried to deny Elizabeth's _a-ha_ expression by composing herself as best she could. "I assume he is quite well?"

"Yes, quite." Elizabeth said. "We had little time to talk for he seemed preoccupied with what he thought was rescuing his sister at the time, but he seemed like someone I would approve of dating my dear sister."

Margaret struggled to not take the bait. Her inner librarian wanted to correct Elizabeth -that Nanako wasn't actually Narukami's sister, just his cousin and they had a close relationship that-

Jeez, wasn't Margaret supposed to be the smart one?

"I wish I could see him again." Margaret said.

"Well, why don't you?" Elizabeth asked. There was no mocking in her voice. Simply concerned curiosity for her sister.

Suddenly, Margaret's cell phone felt incredibly heavy in her dress pocket. (Her outfit was designed far more for utility than Elizabeth's – and thus actually had pockets) Yu's number seemed to have suddenly received the mass of a red dwarf as the phone pushed against her leg. She waited until the pressure was too much for her to bear.

"I don't know." she finally admitted.

"Well then what's keeping you?" At this point, both Elizabeth's unprecedented lucidity and cheerfulness were driving on Margaret's last nerve. What was worse was that she was right.

"I should," she said slowly.

"Marvelous!" Elizabeth cried. "While you are doing that, I will go out to the dancefloor for more more gyromancy!" Elizabeth's brow furrowed and she paused. "Gyros?... Souvlakis?"

"Thank you," Elizabeth said, pulling out her phone, half looking at it. "but why do you care so much?"

"Why simple! I cannot bear to see my dear sister upset!" after a pause, Elizabeth added. "Also, parts of your story seem familiar."

Margaret didn't know how to respond to that.

"In any case! " Margaret said. "You have a call to make and I have dancing to do!" and Elizabeth happily skipped off.

"Happy birthday sister." Margaret said. "And thank you."

.-

Margaret stood outside of the club. It wasn't quiet but a conversation could actually be held out there. She had been staring at Narukami on her phone for almost five minutes.

Why was this so damned hard?

Okay, she reminded herself. Take a few deep breaths. Worst that happens is he doesn't want to talk.

The most asinine part of this was she really did believe this was the worst part of this. After a few breaths, she tried a new tactic. She started softly singing a song from when she was younger.

_Velvet... Oh Velvet..._

_My Master has a laaaaarge nooose..._

It was a silly song she sang with her sister when younger, but for some reason it emboldened her. It finally gave her the courage to punch that one button.

She heard the dial and phone ring. There was no turning back now. It would be worse to hang up now. She waited for what felt like an eternity.

"Hi, you've reached the voicemail of Yu Narukami-"

disheartened she closed her phone. Well, it was worth a shot, wasn't it? She began to slowly work her way back to the club.

_Now I face out I hold out_

_I reach out to the truth of my life_

_seeking-_

Margaret's phone was ringing. She fumbled with it, in an ashamedly ungraceful manner until she finally answered the phone.

"Hello? Oh Yu-san! Oh no! Nothing life threatening has gone on fortunately."

Margaret paused for a moment.

"I just wanted to see how you were doing..."


End file.
